KYIV: At least 17 people including the Interior Minister of Ukraine, his deputy and other officials were killed after a helicopter crashed near a kindergarten and a residential building in the city of Brovary in Ukraine’s Kyiv region, Governor of the Kyiv region Oleksiy Kuleba said.
The victims include the leadership of Ukraine’s Ministry of Internal Affairs: the minister, the first deputy minister and the state secretary, according to Ukrinform news agency citing national police.
Meanwhile, 22 others were injured. Two children were among the dead and 10 of them were in hospital, officials said.
“At the time of the tragedy, there were children and the staff in the kindergarten,” Oleksiy Kuleba, head of the Kyiv regional military administration wrote on Telegram, according to CNN.
Emergency services are attending the scene, he said.
Videos shared on social media showed a burning building and people could be heard screaming. Reuters was unable immediately to verify the footage.
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It was not immediately clear what caused the helicopter to crash. There was no immediate comment from Russia, whose troops invaded Ukraine last February, and Ukrainian officials made no reference to any Russian attack in the area at the time.
